Adam Ruins Everything: How Funerals Completely Rip Us Off

“Adam Ruins Everything” videos are really catchy: fast-paced, clear, fact-checked, funny and enlightening. In the video “How Funerals Completely Rip Us Off,” our guide Adam takes us on a tour through the history of embalming and the funeral industry, illuminating the costly, unnecessary, toxic (literally!), and sometimes pointless aspects of the “traditional” funeral, including ecologically harmful body preservation and expensive caskets.

This exposé may leave you feeling taken advantage of and hopelessly stuck in the monopoly of the funeral home industry — a business oriented toward profiting from vulnerable people (although funeral homes are often run by well-meaning people working in a dysfunctional system.) But that is not the case. There are alternatives to a “traditional” funeral and the exorbitant cost of after-death care.

A home funeral, known in the past as a “wake” or “lying-in,” is an ages old, relatively simple, safe and legally available option in the majority of North American states and provinces. A look at our Natural Death Care page will help you take the first steps to a finding information and service providers who can assist you in your area. The National Home Funeral Alliance is also an excellent resource in the United States.